A Life Worth Fighting For
by russgirl
Summary: The long awaited sequel to 'A Life Worth Living', the peace of Riddick and Harry's life has been shattered by the return of some unfriendly faces. Now the family must fight for the life they have created, discovering the prophesy concerning the evil after them and their destiny/ duty toward the universe.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: Hello, everyone. I'm slowly getting back into writing fanfiction and am planning on re-publishing 'Hope in the Darkness' but wish to get a few chapters with my more thought out plot. In the meantime, here is the long awaited sequel to 'A Life Worth Living'. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Pitch Black or Harry Potter universes. **

**Chapter One: Problems Arise**

Shazza groaned as she wiped the sweat from her brow. The planet they landed on was hot, but luckily it didn't have multiple suns. She smirked at the inside joke before she looked over to Zeke who was arguing with one of the other prospectors about whether or not to use explosives. A frown was etched on Zeke's hard face as he tried to glare their partner into submission. Deciding that she should do something before the argument turned physical, she abandoned her digging and walked over to the pair. Moving so she was in between the two men, Shazza laid a comforting hand on Zeke's shoulder.

"What seems to be the problem here?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, forcing her husband to abandon his glaring.

"This bastard wants to blow the hole," Zeke muttered. Shazza rolled her eyes at Zeke's tone, knowing that he was angry at their partner for ignoring his protests.

"It'll be faster than this back-breaking routine your dumb ass seems adamant to try," the man said in his defense.

"It'll collapse the hole you fucking moron or do you not realize that the top dirt is too loose to take an explosion!" Zeke shouted back at him. Only Shazza being between them kept him from lunging at the annoying man. The man ignored him and started carting the explosives into the hole to set them up before coming out and calling out a warning. After a few minutes of wait to make sure everyone was a suitable distance away, the man hit the trigger tied to the explosives and the explosion sounded loud in their ears. To the man's annoyance, the hole collapsed in on itself. Shaking his head at their partner's idiocy in not listening to more experienced prospectors, Zeke turned around and started gathering up their stuff. "Shazza get the stuff together; we are outta here."

"You can't leave, we are partners in this!" their younger partner cried out, afraid of being left to deal with this on his own.

"This partnership ended when you decided to ignore me and blow the hole anyway," Zeke stated calmly gathering the last of their stuff before grabbing Shazza and walking back to the main settlement. The walk took a couple hours as their site was a ways from the settlement, but once they arrived it was to see the normal hustle and bustle. Giving a sigh at the busyness of the settlement, Zeke pulled Shazza toward their tent in the temporary resident area. Shazza stayed quiet, although she did level a glare at Zeke, but once they got inside and the flap closed behind them she voiced her displeasure.

"What the hell was that!? You just walked away from a possible payday because that newbie made a bad call! What is your problem Zeke?" Shazza said with fire in her eyes. Her hands were on her hip and she was impatient for an answer from her husband, who was in her eyes acting strange.

"I'm tired of this shit," Zeke said softly. "It's always about the payday, the possible payday, and the prize. I feel like we're no better than that bastard Johns or that coward Paris; what's the point in all this?"

"The point is to make money and get to the good life," Shazza said with a hard edge to her voice. "Don't you remember? That was our goal, our hope; I thought it still was." Zeke didn't answer; instead he lay down on the nearest cot and threw an arm over his eyes. Shazza huffed before storming out of the tent and running straight into a hard chest. Before she could apologize, the man grabbed her and dragged her away from the tent toward the canteen. Soon she was in a booth with the mystery man. At first he didn't speak, he instead ordered them both drinks and took a deep gulp of the liquor. Pulling out a cigarette, he lit it and took a deep drag. The man was older from what Shazza could see; he had graying hair and a few wrinkles on his face. There was a noticeable scar on his face and his clothing was tailored to easily hide weaponry. He was a gruff looking man, but it did not worry Shazza much. "Do you want something?"

"Where's Riddick?" the man asked nonchalantly as if he were commenting on the weather. The hair on the back of Shazza's neck stood up and her eyes darted back and forth quickly before she tried to relax and put on an air of confusion.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Shazza said in what she hoped was an apologetic manner. The man smirked and took another long drag on his cigarette.

"You're not a very good liar. You are Sharon Montgomery; your husband's name is Ezekiel; and you were both survivors of the Hunter-Graztner. Now, I wanna know where Riddick is," the man said again.

"The Hunter-Graztner? Wasn't that the ship that crashed like seven years ago on some unknown planet?" Shazza asked in faux ignorance, hoping the man would give up his interrogation.

"Yes it  
was, but in the papers it was "lost in deep space"," the man said with a smirk and a gleam in his eye that let her know she was caught. Shazza gulped and looked around for an escape route in hopes of getting back to Zeke. "I'll pay you for any valuable information."

"Pay me?" Shazza asked weakly. She felt a bit of revulsion to realize that he had gotten her attention with that comment and she wondered if Zeke was right. "I'm not interested and I don't know any valuable information."

"Fine, we'll play this game. My name is Toombs and I'll be around if you change your mind," the man said before chugging the rest of his drink and leaving the canteen. Shazza watched him leave and waited a few minutes before hurrying out herself, leaving her untouched drink. Hurrying back to their tent, she barged in. Zeke sat upright in bed, obviously startled from the sudden entrance of his wife. He watched confused as she started packing their things and talking about catching the first shuttle out in the morning.

"Honey, what's going on? When you left you were yelling at me, but now you are all for leaving?" He asked confused and a bit hopeful.

"Some merc dragged me to the canteen after I stormed out and started asking about Riddick. I tried to play it off, but messed up when I mentioned that the Hunter-Graztner crashed as that wasn't in the papers. He offered me money for information about Riddick and I almost gave in," she ended in self-disgust before falling to her knees on the floor beside their clothing.

"But you didn't give in, that's what's important," Zeke said reassuringly, moving to gather his wife in his arms. Outside their tent, Toombs stood smirking to himself. _'I knew they had info on Riddick.'_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0 -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 -

Blake was sitting outside doing exercises with his shiv. His two-year-old little brother Adam was watching with awe on his face. Adam tended to follow Blake or Ali around like their little shadow. Blake smirked a bit to himself as he saw his brother watching him. Soon he finished his exercises and turned toward his little brother. Raising a brow at the younger boy, Blake's eyes softened and he opened his arms for the younger boy to give him a hug as was his routine in the mornings. A soft giggle drew Blake's attentions to the doorway where his twin sister stood with a glass of cold water in her hands. Releasing his brother, Blake gratefully took the water.

"Why do you insist on training every morning?" Jasmine asked with a bit of exasperation at asking the same question over and over again without getting a satisfactory answer.

"To stay at the top of my game," Blake answered with a grin, knowing that his sister wanted a better answer although she never got one. Their mother appeared in the doorway just as Jasmine was about to retort and informed them that breakfast was ready. Entering the house, Blake took a wide berth from his angry twin and steered his little brother toward the bathroom to wash up. On the way they passed Ali's room where he was running through his combat moves. "Breakfast is ready." He didn't get an answer, but then Blake didn't expect one as Ali ignores conversation when doing his routine.

Soon everyone was sitting at the table, although Jack was rubbing some small cuts on her arm and glaring at Jasmine. Of course, Jasmine ignored the look from her eldest sibling and calmly grabbed a wrap and scooped some fruit salad onto her plate. Ali grabbed a piece of toast and spread a generous amount of jam on the bread before grabbing a couple wraps and a slice of meat. Blake helped Adam get what he wanted before fixing his own plate and unapologetically kicked Jack under the table in warning to get some food before their dad was allowed at it. Jack switched her glare to Blake and moodily grabbed a bit of everything while muttering about bratty, evil little siblings. Finally after the kids had food on their plates, Harry nodded to the impatient Riddick.

"Why again do I need to wait till the kiddies get food, before I can?" Riddick asked with a raised brow. Harry rolled his eyes at his stubborn mate, but answered anyway.

"Because they are growing and you are not and no that does not count," Harry said with a glare when Riddick went to open his mouth. "Also, before we established the protocol; fights broke out at the table and little Adam almost got hurt."

"That was one time and he doesn't even remember it!" Jack exclaimed when she noticed the dirty look that her mother was giving her as she was the one that had started that fight. Ali started laughing at Jack, which of course made her mad. "What you wanna go bookworm, I got all day."

"I don't like to fight, you know that," Ali stated, although he was obviously remembering the last fight they had where Jack ended up flat on her back from one of Ali's moves.

"You are so full of—"

"Jack, Ali, you two will stop arguing at the breakfast table! Stop laughing Riddick!" Harry said forcefully in surprise of their argument, as the two eldest tended not to have many disputes. Riddick was still laughing loudly at the two as he knew Jack was just sore that she had been beaten in a fight by her younger twin siblings and the non-violent Ali. '_Judging by the marks on her arms, Jasmine used her whip to get her to come to breakfast'_ Riddick thought amusedly. The moment was ruined by a knock on the door that made Riddick groan, since he knew that the only people that came to their secluded home was his unwelcome in-laws. Harry rose from his chair and approached the door opening it with care, just in case someone unexpected was on the other side. Standing there was Alex with a basket of fruit. Opening the door wider, Harry smiled as he beckoned his mother through.

"Where's dad?" Harry asked as he motioned Alex to the table to join them for breakfast.

"Who cares?" Riddick grumbled under his breath, ducking out of the way when Harry went to smack him upside the head for his rudeness.

"He decided to go to work early, said something about not needing to see his son be manhandled by that bastard," Alex said with an exasperated roll of his eyes, "his words not mine."

"You would figure after seven years, he would get over that," Harry said with the same level of exasperation that Alex portrayed. Deciding not to allow it to get to them, Alex sat at the table to enjoy a bit of his son's cooking. Soon breakfast was over and Riddick stood to head out for work. Ali similarly stood for work as did Jack, since they both worked what jobs they could find to help out their parents. Ali went to his room to grab his bag of medical supplies; he had learned to be a healer and while still an apprentice, was considered advanced enough to have his own supplies. Jack worked in the central gardens during harvest time and in the woods during the time before winter; overall, she was a hired hand during the prep season. Returning with his bag, Ali patted Blake on the head and gave Jasmine and Adam a hug before he headed out with a reassurance that he would be careful. Jack just glared at her little siblings, gave Harry and Alex a hug and left behind him. Before Riddick could leave, Jasmine ran to him and gave him a tight hug that was returned gently as Riddick kept most of his force in check.

"Tell Dad hi for me, will you?" Harry said with a soft look and a small pout to ensure that his mate would approach his irritable father. Riddick grunted before heading out the door and catching up with his oldest before they would need to part ways. The trio was silent as they made the trek toward town; their home was rather isolated from the rest of the small populace. As they got closer though, they started encountering more people and picked up on the excited chatter of a landing ship. 'Ships don't land here too often, gotta keep our guard up' Riddick thought while giving a significant look to his oldest children.

"Keep your ears open and your mouths shut," Riddick said quietly. Ali just nodded before moving away toward the main doctor's hut to start his day while Jack rolled her eyes and continued toward the central gardens. Riddick felt unease, but didn't let it show as he moved towards the construction site on the edge of the town. Reaching the construction site, Riddick soon found his father-in-law and gave him Harry's message before getting to work. Only a couple hours in, Logan who was passing him by carting a large beam like it was a flimsy stick gave him a heads up that a couple were approaching with the chief-like authority figure. Seeming like nothing was the matter, Riddick kept working until he heard his name get called. Turning around slowly, Riddick's eyes widened slightly at seeing the prospectors, Zeke and Shazza.

"Been a long time old friend," Zeke said with a wry grin. Riddick raised an eyebrow, but gave no other indication that the statement meant anything to him. Deciding to ignore the man, Riddick went to go back to work only to be stopped by someone grabbing his arm. With a growl of annoyance, Riddick spun around and twisted the offender's arm behind his back stopping just moments from dislocating and/or breaking it.

"You should know better than to touch me," Riddick growled out as he pushed Zeke away from him. "What do you two want?"

"Perhaps this is not the best place for this discussion, my hut is not far from here; I'm sure that the site can handle the loss of one worker for a moment," the chieftain suggested, not wanting to cause any hysteria or unease.

"There is no discussion, they shouldn't be here," Riddick stated in his grumbling voice, turning away to continue working. He took a few steps away from them only to stop in his tracks upon the next utterance out of Zeke's mouth.

"A merc was lookin' for you!"

"What did you say?" Riddick asked in a quiet hiss, turning back around slowly to face the prospectors that had walked away from them years ago. He could hear Logan approaching from the site having stopped working upon hearing about a threat to his family.

"A merc, he tried to get info about you from Shazza but she didn't give him any. As soon as we could we hopped on a ship and made our way here to warn you guys," Zeke explained quickly, certain that any drawn out explanations would end with him being gutted. Even though his eyes couldn't be seen behind the goggles that he wore as protection, Zeke could tell that they were murderous and truthfully he couldn't blame him. When they were dropped off on this planet by the rescue crew they were told to wait a few years before venturing off; it was explained that they needed to give time to let people believe that they were dead. Even though they were warned, told, commanded to stay, Zeke and Shazza left as quickly as possible. 'Even I'm not sure why, everything we wanted, everything we've been searching for is right here' Zeke thought to himself.

"Did you come straight here?" Logan asked gruffly, his tense body betrayed his anger even though he tried to remain aloof concerning the reunited prospectors.

"We thought it important that we warn you, so yeah," Shazza said in confusion with a hint of annoyance in her voice at being questioned. Before anymore could be said, Logan and Riddick started running in the same direction.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: They Arrive/Planning**

Logan and Riddick didn't stop running till they reached the house that Riddick had built himself for his family. Happy to see that it was still standing, they cautiously approached and opened the door to see Harry fixing snacks. Harry turned as he heard the door open only to stare in confusion at the sight of his mate and father standing in the doorway. They both should have been at the construction site working on the building of a new home for the chieftain's daughter and her husband. Instead, both were staring at Harry in what seemed to be relief. Thoroughly confused, Harry decided to call the children into the kitchen for their snack.

"Blake, Jasmine, Adam!" Harry called out. Soon the children came barreling into the kitchen only to stop and stare in confusion at their father and grandfather standing in the doorway. After all, the duo should not have been home for hours and they were rarely together, what with hating each other and all. Deciding to ignore the mystery in favor of food, the kids sat down at the table and began to eat the snacks before them. Harry sat down with the kids, ensuring that Blake ate his veggies. For the moment, Harry ignored the oddity of his father and husband appearing at home hours before they were due. However, it was when Zeke and Shazza showed up huffing and puffing that Harry decided to find out exactly what was going on.

"Why are _they_ here?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes, knowing that their return couldn't spell anything good for their family. Blake and Jasmine looked at the strangers curiously, wondering what they could have done to cause their mother to sound so distrustful.

"We came to warn your family about a merc," Shazza said in a petulant voice, continuing in a low voice to Zeke, "although I don't know why with how ungrateful they're being."

"We didn't ask you to come here and by doing so you probably brought the merc to our doorstep! Don't you ever think?I" Harry screamed, unable to help himself from becoming angry at the prospectors.

"No one followed us; he didn't even know we were leaving!" Shazza screamed back while Zeke put a hand on her arm to help her keep her temper in check.

"Do you think this merc is stupid? He's obviously been after Riddick for the last seven years; do you really think he would just let his only lead get away?" Harry asked the woman angrily, wondering if she could truly be that naïve.

"But he, he, we weren't followed," Shazza said softly in uncertainty.

"Probably were, but he's gonna let us stew, try to get us worked up," Riddick commented from where he was leaning against the counter.

"Blake, Jasmine, go out and bring Jack and Ali home and be discreet," Harry said softly to his twins. Shazza's mouth dropped open in shock at the command and before she could stop herself she blurted out her thoughts.

"But they're seven! You can't send them out there alone, it's the most irr-" whatever else would have been said was cut off as Shazza's throat was gripped tightly. Grabbing whatever was constricting her throat; Shazza felt a thin vine-like thing snaked around her throat. Casting her eyes around franticly to try to locate her attacker, Shazza saw the girl with a green whip in her hand.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Zeke screamed as he tried to help his wife get the whip from around her neck, but it seemed to be unnaturally tight.

"Your wife should mind her tone, mister," the girl said before with a flick of her wrist the whip just fell from his wife's neck. He saw that the whip looked more like a long vine than any whip he had ever seen before and that it had small spikes along its entire length and well as long spikes coming out of the end of the handle. It made him shudder to see a child with such a weapon, much less to see her wield it with such ease. With another casual move, the whip just started to get smaller until it was no more than the handle, which was clasped into the belt on the girl's waist.

"Jasmine, please apologize for attacking Shazza even if she did deserve it," Harry said sternly to his daughter. Jasmine crossed her arms and set her mouth in a firm line in an obvious sign that she wasn't about to apologize to the woman. Riddick sighed and moved from his position leaning against the counter.

"Jasmine, listen to your mother and apologize. Harry, calm down and get a read for the forest; don't want to send the kiddies out blind after all. Blake, gear up," Riddick said in a commanding voice, which apparently worked as Jasmine grumbled out an apology, Harry sat down on the nearest chair and closed his eyes, and Blake left the room to apparently gear up. Zeke decided to look around the room rather than think about the scene that he just saw and was rather surprised by the homey feel of the kitchen. He saw small vines climbing a lattice-structure around the window that reminded him of the vines on the walls of the ship during the eclipse. There was an island that separated the kitchen area from the dining room area and a door that he figured led to the pantry. A rather large structure that had a keypad on it, seemed to be the only piece of technological equipment that could be seen in the room and Zeke guessed that it was a refrigerator of some sort. He also took notice of the small boy who was sitting at the table still looking at his wife and him in confusion.

"Hi," Zeke said softly with a little wave in the boy's direction. Even though he had said it softly, he still startled the little boy who jumped a little in his seat before looking at him curiously. Logan snorted a bit when Zeke started to look dejected when Adam still didn't respond.

"He's shy," Logan said in his gruff voice, deciding to throw Zeke a bone. After all, this situation isn't his fault exactly; the man hadn't wanted to leave, but would do anything to make his wife happy.

"Oh," Zeke said, feeling a little less put out that the cute little guy wouldn't return the greeting. He blinked in surprise, however when he saw that Blake had returned after 'gearing up'. The seven-year-old was wearing black cargo pants that looked to be a mini replica of his father's signature pants and a black tank top that had dark green jagged stripes it that reminded him of camouflage outfits. There was a black harness around his chest that was extremely hard to spot against the dark top; on closer inspection it seemed to be holding a white shiv against the boy's hip and another black one that had the handle facing down from his chest. When he kneeled down to check something in his pants, Zeke saw a dark green whip coiled up on the boys back and two move shiv handles poking out from the small of his back. 'Geez, this kid is packing' Zeke thought as he realized that those were only the things he could see.

"Anything out there Harry?" Riddick asked as he checked over Blake. Meanwhile, Alex had appeared with Logan. Zeke and Shazza could only presume that Logan had gone to get him. Alex started looking at a bag that Jasmine had handed him before nodding and handing it back to Jasmine, who slung it over her shoulder.

"So why send the kids out there?" Zeke asked cautiously, making sure to not sound accusing or confrontational in any way.

"If the mercs have landed, then they will be looking for us. But they don't know what Blake or Jasmine look like and won't think anything of a couple kids collecting their older siblings," Alex explained.

"Aren't you worried about their safety, though?" Zeke asked, knowing that is what his wife was worrying about.

"You seem to forget, Blake and Jasmine aren't normal kids much like Jack and Ali weren't normal kids. They have been training since they were toddlers to learn to protect themselves and we know that they can hold their own. Besides once they reach Jack and Ali, they will have more than enough talent between the four of them to take down any threat," Alex explained.

"What do you mean talent?" Shazza asked in a scratchy voice, still rubbing her neck.

"Blake is much like his father and as his attire suggests, is skilled with shivs and stealth. He can be silent and deadly. Jasmine, as I'm sure you found out the hard way, is skilled with a whip. What you don't know is that she has plant control as well, although not as well refined as Harry's, and is particularly good with poison. Ali is unassuming, thought to be just the scholar and healer; he isn't. Jack is all bravado, but behind that is a strategic mind and fierce protective force. These _children_ could bring down a small army. Even little Adam isn't all that he seems." Zeke's eyes widened at the words, knowing that Alex wasn't one to exaggerate. But before he or Shazza could respond, Harry came out of his nature-checking trance.

"There is nothing that doesn't belong out in the forest or in the town, but the trees do warn about a strange cloud that has been spotted around," Harry said, before he picked little Adam up and placed him in his lap.

"Alright, Blake, Jasmine, be quick, quiet, and if anything goes wrong one of you come back to the house. Got it?" Riddick asked, looking at both children.

"Yes sir," Blake said in a strong voice.

"Yeah, yeah," Jasmine responded with a role of her eyes. "I'll go out the front Blake and you go out the back. We will meet up at your practice clearing."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0

Blake made his way out the house and quickly went into the surrounding woods and into the shadows. Stopping and listening for any unusual sounds, Blake started for his practice clearing after ensuring that there was nothing abnormal near him. Winding his way flawlessly through the trees without making a sound, he made it to the clearing in less than two minutes and waited for his sister. Jasmine arrived a minute later and touched a nearby tree, after waiting a few seconds she nodded to him and they continued on toward town. As they got closer to town, they heard an unusual sound and stopped quickly to take cover amongst the tree branches. Above them they could make out a ship flying in the direction of town from where there house was. Knowing that from above their house looked like a bunch of trees due to their mother encouraging the roof to branch and leaf, they wondered if the mercs were planning on landing to ask for help.

"We gotta get to Jack and Ali fast," Jasmine whispered in his ear. Blake nodded and moved forward quickly, his sister hot on his heels. Just before they would have breached the forest into the town, the duo stopped. Blake scanned the little area that he could see and saw that there was little cover for anyone going into town, but there was woodland cover that could be used for travel to the perimeter huts. Knowing that at this moment Jack would be cutting wood on the other side of town for the construction projects and Ali would be in the healer hut in the middle of town, he decided that he should go after Jack while Jasmine went after Ali.

"So here's the plan; I go for Jack using the forest as my cover, while you go for Ali using your innocent look as a confusion tactic," Blake suggested, still scanning the entrance to the town to ensure that he isn't sending his sister out into a trap.

"Okay, but you would be passing right by the docking area so be careful," Jasmine said softly, quickly giving Blake a hug before she started off into town. Blake watched for a while as she moved into the crowd before he moved back into the forest for better cover. Moving carefully through the trees, Blake stopped when he heard voices ahead. Blending into the shadows, Blake inched forward until he could just make out two figures through the trees.

"Is a four person crew enough for this guy? That is if he even is here, they coulda gone off world after the prospectors left them," one of the men muttered.

"Nah, any other system woulda reported the bastard. Besides Toombs was gonna ask around about them, so we just wait till he gets back," the other man said dismissively.

"But if we don't find him then all this time was wasted and none of us get paid," the first man whined.

"Will you shut your mouth, I think I heard somethin," the second man said before he turned and began to approach the exact spot that Blake was hiding in. Blake started backing up, being careful to keep to shadows and not make any sound, but the man was approaching fast. Just when Blake thought he might have to kill the two men, his salvation came in the form of a scarred, gruff looking man with a cigar in his mouth.

"Get over here, I got some info," the scarred man called out, causing the approaching man to turn around a move away.

"Well boss, is he here or not?" the impatient man asked rudely, which earned him a sharp look from the ring leader, who Blake figured was Toombs.

"Yeah he's here and he's got a family we can use against him, so our plan is gonna change a bit. We capture his family and bring them to a triple-max slam where Riddick will no doubt follow. When he does, we collect and tell our benefactor where he is and we get paid twice," Toombs said with glee and a greedy gleam in his eyes. Blake's eyes widened and he tried to figure out if he would be able to move past them without attracting their attention. Before he could move though, someone grabbed him from behind. He could smell the wild scent of his Jack and calmed slightly as she began to back them away till they were far enough that they wouldn't be heard or detected.

"What are you doing out here?" Jack asked in an angry hiss, a sign that she was worried about his safety.

"Mom and Dad sent Jasmine and I after you and Ali, I don't exactly blend into the crowds with my gear so I sent Jasmine after Ali and I came to get you," Blake said quickly, knowing that Jack didn't want drawn out explanations when she was in protective mode.

"Oh, well standing near those guys like that was stupid," Jack said before she hit Blake upside his head and started dragging him back towards the house. After a few minutes they ran into Ali and Jasmine and the four siblings trekked home carefully.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0

Meanwhile back with the adults, they started discussing what could be the mercs' plans for capturing Riddick and what they might learn from the town they lived near. Shazza sat grumpily at the table with Zeke sitting next to her while Alex and Logan sat across from then. Harry stood near the counter that Adam was sitting on swinging his legs while Riddick sat at the head of the table. For a moment everyone was silent as they considered everything that was happening and the consequences of every action, until Shazza who could not hold in her thoughts spoke.

"Maybe we could just wait this out and they'll go away," Shazza suggested in a hopeful voice.

"Oh yeah, the mercs will just go away when they've got us right where they want us," Alex said sardonically.

"But they don't know Riddick's here, they just think he is," Shazza said simply as if there was no way for them to find Riddick's true whereabouts for sure.

"They know he's here because you two ran here directly after being confronted about information for Riddick," Harry said grumpily, throwing a glare at Shazza. Shazza glared back but did not open her mouth again as there was nothing she would have been able to say in her defense. Somehow she doubted mentioned they ran here because she was almost willing to sell them out for credits would be a good move. "Besides the townspeople no nothing about us and therefore would not think any harm could be done by mentioning us to inquisitive newcomers; after all, the chieftain led you straight to Riddick."

"But surely the townspeople wouldn't endanger you by leading mercs to your door?" Zeke asked concernedly.

"First off, they wouldn't be stupid enough to just announce that they're mercs after all Johns paraded around as a cop, remember? Secondly, neither the townspeople nor the chieftain know where we live; after all, we figured something of this nature would happen eventually. Last but not least, they could easily find out about where we work, about the kids, and a ton of other information that we don't want them to know," Alex said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well shouldn't we leave or something?" Zeke asked, trying desperately to think of some way to keep the family from being harmed by their foolhardiness.

"On what ship?" Riddick said at last. Unable to answer him, Zeke looked down at his lap and hoped that the more experienced group would be able to figure something out. Hearing a knocking sound, Zeke startled only to grow confused as Harry went to the door and knocked in a seemingly random rhythm. Seconds after he finished the four children walked in.

"So they're the reason Blake nearly got himself grabbed by mercs," Jack stated with an eye roll while she leaned against the wall beside the door and crossed her arms.

"I did not," Blake said grumpily, glaring at Jack before jumping onto the counter beside little Adam who gave his older brother a brilliant smile. Jasmine giggled before plopping none too gently into Alex's lap while Ali rolled his eyes at the banter and sat next to Logan.

"What happened?" Riddick asked commandingly, giving his son a pointed stare.

"I was headed to the lumber area and was near the landing pad. I had planned to make a wide arc to get around it without being seen, but there were two guys in a clearing in front of me talking about how they thought their leader was stupid to come here. So I listened, then one of the guys thought he heard something and began heading towards me. I readied myself to take him out and run if need be, but then their leader showed up. He said that some of the townspeople told him about our family and how he could use us against you. I was backtracking when Jack showed up behind me," Blake said stoically, almost reminding Zeke of a trained soldier giving a report to his superior. Riddick nodded and turned to Jack.

"I was working, carting cut wood from the chopping blocks to the carts set up when this stranger approached my supervisor. The guy seemed dangerous so I let myself blend in with some of the others and used that cover to start leaving the area. I was able to get deeper into the woods right in time too, because next thing I know I'm hearing my name being called. I didn't stay around for long and ran into the pipsqueak near the landing pad," Jack said quickly and as animatedly as Zeke remembered her being as a little girl.

"Did you two have any problems?" Riddick asked looking at Jasmine and then Ali. The two shook their heads in the negative. There was silence for a while, during which Zeke studied the family and realized something that had niggled his mind seven years prior; this was a family of warriors. Knowing that nothing Zeke or Shazza knew could possibly help them when this was their territory, he stayed quiet while whatever was going through their minds processed.

"We could try calling my uncle," Alex said out of the blue, "the team did leave us with that long-distance holo-phone in case we might need their help."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Note: Sorry for the long update time but I've been trying to figure out how to go about the sequel to get the same ending result or at least something that won't end up in a dead lock. So here is chapter three.**

**Chapter Three: Asking for Help/Unseen Disasters**

"They didn't leave us with anything like that, why did they give you one?" Shazza asks in confusion and slight anger at the perceived slight.

"Maybe because we are the ones who were in danger or do you not understand that?" Harry shouted back angrily, fed up with this woman who seemingly decided they didn't matter once they had survived and were off the planet of monsters. Shazza it seemed could not decide if she were angry or chastised, she listened only with half an ear at the conversation around her. 'It wasn't that big a deal that we left' Shazza thought to herself angrily 'there wasn't as much danger as everyone talked about; everything was just blown out of proportion.' After all, one lucky merc wasn't proof that her and Zeke were the cause of this situation. Peeking over at her husband, she saw that he was also involved in whatever discussion the family was having and showing real concern for the killers. Narrowing her eyes, Shazza decided that as soon as they could they were leaving these people to their fate and ignored the little voice in her head that asked her what would have happened if they had left them to their fate seven years ago.

"Shazza? Shazza, are you listening?" Zeke asked, looking over at his wife in concern. He knew that she was probably angry that Harry was 'unreasonably' mad at her, but he knew that he needed to do something before the small family before him was hurt anymore by his mistakes. Talking to his wife was the first on his list of ways to help the small family; at least, after he got her attention. "Shazza?"

"What?" Shazza hissed angrily.

"Wanna go to another room? We need to talk," Zeke said quickly, knowing that he might lose his nerve if he stalled any. He watched as his wife narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion before giving a shaky nod. The duo quickly got up and left the room together, running into Harry in the doorway. In Harry's hands was a small device that Zeke recognized as a holo-phone. 'Hopefully Alex's uncle will be of some help' Zeke thought as he continued to lead his wife away from the kitchen.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0

Harry entered the kitchen with a puzzled look on his face, wondering why Zeke was leading Shazza further into their home and why he was being allowed to lead Shazza further into their home. Deciding to ask his husband, Harry set the holo-phone down in front of his mother and walked over to Riddick. Quickly asking about the retreating couple, Riddick explained that Zeke was being allowed to deal with his wife before the woman did something that would require him or Logan to step in. The attention that Harry might have paid to the information was taken when he heard his mother's uncle's voice.

"There must be a problem if you're actually using this," Olask replied gruffly. The man was obviously woken from sleep, but he quickly became alert. Alex chuckled a bit, but did not deny his comment. "Well what is it?"

"A team of mercs came; we're trapped here," Alex told him, being careful not to show any fear so as not to worry his grandchildren. Regardless of his care, his uncle would be able to tell how dire the situation was even if there was nothing in his voice. "We need a way off-planet before something happens."

"How did this team of mercs find you?" Olask asked shrewdly, after all they had done a lot to make sure their tracks were covered. He wondered what could have happened to destroy all their hard work.

"We believe that the mercs discovered Zeke and Shazza, confronted them about their survival from the Hunter-Gratzner, and followed them when they came to warn us," Alex said, trying not to sound accusatory. The angry grumbles coming from Harry made his opinion regarding the matter clear enough for all of them. A string of curses came from Olask as he realized just how the mercs would have been able to discover Zeke and Shazza. It was easy to see on his face that he was beyond angry; after all he was only able to speak to his family a few times in the past seven years and only for minutes in order to protect them and to learn that the couple had not heeded their warning righteously made him angry.

"I'll talk to the captain but we are way off from your location; can you hold out till we get there?" Olask asked in concern. Alex looked over at Riddick, after all he knew this game better than any of them. Riddick considered the question. 'If they are able to pinpoint the direction of our location and approach on foot, then we'll have a fight on our hands; but, we have to get a way off the planet' Riddick thought. Giving a nod to Alex, Riddick left the room to check on Zeke and Shazza. He didn't want to hurt the couple, but he wouldn't let them put his family in danger either. Before he made it all the way to the location that he could smell the prospectors were, a bang sounded against the nearest wall. Instinctively falling into a crouch, Riddick cautiously approached the wall and placed his ear against it. Through the wall, he made out muffled voices.

"Keep working at it, my scanner shows that there are life sources in there!" a voice yelled out and another loud bang sounded against the wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry run into the room wide-eyed clutching Adam to his side.

"How'd they find us?" Harry whispered frantically. Riddick's eyes narrowed and he motioned for Harry to return to the kitchen. After Harry had returned to the kitchen, Riddick snuck towards the room the prospectors were in.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0

"Listen Shazza, I can't say that I understand exactly where you are coming from; but we need to talk about this. This is our fault. These people saved our lives and now we have endangered theirs; we gotta make this right," Zeke said passionately as soon as they were ensconced in a room. From the look of the weights and mats lying on the ground and the targets on the walls, this was some kind of exercise room. Turning his attention back to his wife, Zeke nearly recoiled at her look of disgust.

"Help them! They tried to control our lives with their crap about cover stories and protection needs," Shazza yelled. Zeke was bewildered at this attitude and wondered how long his wife harbored this resentment. "What we should worry about is where we wanna settle down."

"Settle down? What money are we supposed to settle down with?" Zeke asked quietly, hoping fervently that she was not going to tell him what he feared.

"Don't worry about it, just know that we have it. Isn't it great! We can finally live our dream," Shazza said in excitement, moving to give Zeke a hug. Zeke held her out at arm's length and looked her in the eyes.

"Shazza, we could have lived our dream here. Everything we wanted we could have already had," Zeke said, giving her a shake as if to knock some sense into her. Shazza narrowed her eyes in response.

"You know what; you might have been sucked in by their bullshit, but not me. These people are cold-blooded killers who would turn on us in a heartbeat! We can't trust them," Shazza hissed back to her husband but did not try to get out of his grip. "And do you think I didn't notice how you acted around Harry."

"What the hell are you talking about? Is this about jealousy Shazza, really? You want to ruin these people's lives over that," Zeke asked incredulously, taking a step away from the woman in shock.

"I did what I had to for us!" Shazza said, stepping closer to Zeke who backed away from her.

"What did you do?" Zeke asked, before he got a response however a loud bang sounded and the house shook a bit. "Shazza, what did you do?!" Riddick entered the room behind his wife and although Zeke noticed him, he made no move to warn his wife. In truth he couldn't do much of anything as he was told how she found Toombs before they left. She made a deal with him, help capture Riddick and she would get 1/5 of the bounty on his head.

"He promised to leave anyone else alone," Shazza finished, as if that made it better. Zeke watched as if looking through a window as Riddick knocked his wife out. He wondered what would happen to his wife or himself for that matter before everything went black.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0

Toombs grinned as his men kept hitting the tree with metal ram. It seemed the woman hadn't been lying about Riddick's whore after all, this house was a masterpiece. If he hadn't been warned, he never would have found them. The roof looked like a canopy with the branches coming out of it and leaves sprouting and the walls looked like bark. Truthfully the entire thing looked like a large tree, but the scanners showed life inside and that's all that mattered to Toombs. His prey was trapped and if the villagers were correct then there were children in there too. A nasty grin came on his face; Riddick's children could fetch him a pretty penny with the labs or slavers if they were pretty enough. Mentally he made a list of who should be in the house, their danger level, and possible price.

_Riddick: Highly dangerous, most likely armed – 1,500,000 creds_

_ Logan: Highly dangerous, self-healing factor and retractable claws – unknown _

_ Alexander Olask: Dangerous, most likely armed – 100,000 creds_

_ Harry: Possibly dangerous, self-helaing factor, plant control and life creation – unknown_

_ Kid 1 (Jack): Not dangerous – slavers may take her_

_ Kid 2 (Ali): Not dangerous – expendable_

_ Kid 3 (Blake): Possibly dangerous, Riddick's kid – labs will take him_

_ Kid 4 (Jasmine): Not dangerous – slavers may take her, labs will take her_

Toombs also knew that Zeke and Shazza were in the house but he wrote them off, mainly because he doubted the duo was still alive. After all, his finding them is their fault. Growing impatient with the progress concerning the battering ram, Toombs ordered two of his men to start shooting at the area before they ran the ram. While they continued that avenue, Toombs walked around the area trying to find any indicators of where the doors were. He was on the far side from his team when he encountered a strange animal. It was blue with two curved extensions coming from its sides that looked like wings and two horns on its head. The thing was staring him down. Unsure of the animal's temperament, Toombs started backing away but kept the thing in his sights. Just as he got close to the edge of the building, the animal huffed and started to charge him. Toombs let out a burst of fire before he dived to the side only to narrowly miss another of the animals. Quickly he spun around and tried to keep on his feet. The animal that he shot at was bleeding purplish blood but was unfortunately still standing while the new one was staring him down. _'Shit, what are these things? The woman didn't say anything about strange creatures' _Toombs thought as he readied himself again.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 0

Riddick returned to the kitchen to inform the family of what was happening only to run into them all in the hallway. He realized they were going further into the house and away from the doors; better to pick them off firmly in our territory then be caught just within it. Turning on his heel, he led the way further into the house until they came upon the master bedroom. It was the most central room, but it also had a tunnel that led to an area deep in the forest. Ensuring that everyone was present, Riddick closed the door and opened up a panel on the wall next to the door; entering his code, he heard the mechanics whirring that signaled that a false wall had lowered in front of the door. Facing his family, Riddick took a deep breath before he revealed how the mercs found them.

"Shazza set us up," Riddick said simply. He waited for the curses and threats to die down before he continued, "was gonna get a fifth of my bounty if she led them to us, probably had a tracking device on her."

"Now we're just sitting ducks, we have no way off world for at least a month and it's just a matter of time until they get in here," Alex said morosely. Harry held Adam to him tighter and looked to Riddick for some sort of plan; anything at this point.

"We take their ship," Riddick said gruffly and grinned. Logan had a matching grin on his face at the announcement. "This bastard came to our house with a four man crew at that; it's fuckin' insultin'; so we use his ship to get off world and take his crew out while we're at it. Adam tap into the animals around the house, set them on the mercs. Harry, Jasmine, tap into the plants and if you can kill a couple of the fuckers; and if they get in here, it will be the last thing they do."


End file.
